The Darkness Is Not So Very Frightening When I'm With You
by VintageMyDarling
Summary: Peeta and Katniss share a private moment on the Victory Tour train after Katniss has a terrifying nightmare. They take comfort in each other and find that trust can be a most powerful antidote for fear.


**A/N: **Just a sweet little one shot I wrote in a heat of passion. Takes place during Catching Fire on the train for the Victory Tour. It's rated M for a reason, my dears ;)

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I'm standing at the edge of a vast forest, the sun beating down hotly on the back of my neck. A soft breeze whispers through the leaves and wafts the scent of fresh earth in my direction. I breathe in deeply. The silence is peaceful, but I'm unaccustomed to it; I keep waiting for a twig to snap or the brush to shudder. My fingers twitch automatically for my bow, but before I can reach it, a small giggle stops me. It's a sweetly familiar sound, but I know it's too good to be true. I wait for further quiet to confirm that what I heard was a product of pure imagination, but I hear the tinkling laugh again. "Who's there?" I demand, fighting to keep my voice from quavering. I catch a glimpse of a shadow dart between two trees: wisps of dark hair and nimble feet making almost no noise on the forest floor. There was no denying it any longer. "Rue!" I cry, rushing forward. I burst through the bushes and into the trees. There's no trace of her. Glancing around frantically, I see just the heel of a foot disappear behind a tall tree and then another strand of curly, dark hair flutter behind another.

I take off after her at full speed, weaving in and out between the oaks and beeches just like she was. Every now and then, her laughter floats back to me. "Rue stop! It's me, Katniss!" But she doesn't pause, not even for a minute. Rue is small, but she's quick. I can't catch her. Suddenly, I stumble into a sunlit clearing. The light is too bright and I have to squint as I try to adjust to it. Rue stands just ahead of me, facing the other way. She's dressed just the way I remember, too: a dark brown leather jacket and olive green cargo pants. I tear up in relief at the sight of her. "Oh, Rue! I missed you so much." I crouch down and spin her around to face me, eager to see those chocolate brown eyes again. "I'm so glad you're-" I freeze.

Spreading like wildfire, a dark red stain blooms across her abdomen and soaks into her shirt. I gape at the wound and the smell of blood makes me strangely nauseous. Rue frowns. "Why didn't you save me, Katniss?" she asks, notes of disappointment tainting her sweet voice.

"I-I tried." I choke out, my eyes unable to leave the blood that is now beginning to drip onto the ground and onto my shoes.

"You let me die."

"No! No, I tried so hard!" I sputter hysterically. "Rue, please! Forgive me." But tiny Rue just stands there, staring blankly at me. The blood runs down my arms from where my hands are on her slender waist. It pools in a vast puddle at our feet and continues to pour out of her like water from a spigot. We are both drenched in it. "Rue!" I yell, pressing my hands into the wound to suppress the bleeding, but to no avail. There is just so much blood. My head spins and I can taste it's metallic tartness in my mouth. "No! I loved you! I didn't let you die! I tried to save you!" I screamed, shaking her, begging her to understand. She was limp in my arms and the blood was clouding my view. She would never hear me. I'd let her down. "Rue!" I shriek. "Ruuuuuue!"

I shot up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat and with Rue's name still on my lips. I was pretty sure I'd screamed it out loud; I could practically hear the echo resounding through my room. I tried to regulate my breathing, but I was on the verge of hyperventilation and my pounding head yielded no rational thoughts.

"Katniss!" The train car door slammed open and Peeta raced in. He was tensed all over like he was ready to fight somebody, but he was wearing only his boxer shorts and his blond hair stood up at odd angles. If I hadn't been having a panic attack, his appearance would have been comical.

"Peeta." I breathed. The sight of him brought me somewhat back to where I was. Not in a forest, but on a train. It rattled gently underneath me. Peeta dropped his stance as soon as he saw it was only me in the room.

"Another nightmare?" He asked tenderly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." I muttered brusquely, angry at myself for screaming like a child at a little bad dream. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"I get them too sometimes." Peeta sat down at the edge of the bed and gazed at me intently.

"You do?" He'd never mentioned this to me before. Peeta nodded and ran a hand through his hair.

"A lot of times it's just from stuff that happened in the Games. Getting chased by tracker jackers, or the Muttations." He paused. "But sometimes I see people dying. People I care about. Sometimes...I see _you_ die." A long silence passed after that. I didn't quite know what to say. Finally, I pulled my knees up to my chest and laid my head on them.

"I dreamt about Rue." I said, and I instantly felt my throat tighten as the image of her shimmered clear as crystal in my mind. Peeta waited patiently for me to go on. "I was chasing her through the forest and when I finally caught up with her...she was dying. She said it was my fault. That I let her die. She looked so disappointed in me..." The tears in my eyes spilled over and ran down my cheeks to drip off my chin. I tried furiously to wipe them away as discreetly as possible, but they kept coming. I was so embarrassed. Peeta would probably think I'd had some sort of mental break.

All of the sudden, though, I found myself pressed against him with my face buried in the crook of his neck and his arms wrapped securely around me. I was acutely aware of the nakedness of his chest and how chiseled it felt underneath me. He rocked me gently back and forth, and I relaxed immediately. "Shhh...you're alright. It's okay, I've got you." He whispered soothingly.

"What if she really does feel that way, though?" I mumbled into his neck, which was slick with my tears. He pulled away slightly and cupped my face in his weathered hands so that I was forced to look straight at him.

"You and I both know that's impossible." He said firmly. "You were like a sister to her. You did everything you could to keep her safe, and she knows that." I tried to look down, but he held me firmly there. "Trust me, Katniss. She knows that." He flashed me a hint of his signature crooked smile that I returned with a weak, watery one of my own. "That's my girl." Peeta pressed his lips to my forehead and I practically melted into him, it felt so nice. Afterwards, he leaned his own forehead against mine. "Do you want me to stay?" I nodded and scooted over to make room for him in the bed.

It was big enough that we could have slept without touching, but instead I rolled over onto my side and he twined his arms around me from behind. We laid there in complete silence, just taking comfort in the closeness. It was so refreshing to finally be able to feel completely safe. To have just a moment to share where we didn't have to worry about a million different things.

A few moments later, I felt Peeta shifting away from me a little, so that our legs weren't touching anymore. He cleared his throat awkwardly. I craned my neck around to see what was going on.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Fine." He said nonchalantly, but his voice had a nervous tinge to it and I saw a sheen of sweat across his face.

"If it's too hot in here, you can kick off the blankets." I offered, moving to throw the one that covered him onto the floor. He made a grab for it as well, but not in time. His hand collided with mine and knocked it downwards. Unfortunately, this made me realize exactly what he was trying so hard to hide from me. My wrist brushed against the stiff bulge in the front of his boxers. I looked down at it, almost not processing what was going on. Even in the dark, I could see Peeta turning bright crimson red. "Oh" was the first thing that slipped out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry." Peeta stammered, trying hurriedly to stand up. He was halfway to the door before I jumped up to grab his arm and pull him back.

"It's okay." I whispered. In fact, it was more than okay. The thought that he was aroused by me sent a shiver of pleasure up my spine, and a primal heat swelled in my abdomen. "Stay." I steered him slowly back to the bed and pushed him down onto it so that he was sitting on the edge again. He never took his eyes off of me. My palms felt sticky. What was I doing? I couldn't come up with a logical answer, but whatever it was felt so undeniably right that I couldn't stop. I sat down next to him and kissed him full on the mouth. This wasn't our first kiss. We'd done it a bazillion times in front of the cameras. But this one was different. It wasn't just for show. It was genuine and passionate. It was amazing.

In seconds, Peeta was leaning into me, his fingers in my hair and his tongue tracing the shape of my lips. I opened my mouth and felt his tongue run over my teeth before it collided with my own. Gaining confidence, Peeta boldly ran his calloused hand up and down the smooth skin of my leg. Thank god I'd picked tonight to take a shower. My trembling hands found his chest and I ran them over every inch of defined muscle available to me. It was the softest, most intimate thing I'd ever touched. Slowing down the kiss, Peeta withdrew with his hands still tangled in my brown locks. "Are you sure...this is what you want?" He said breathlessly.

"I've never wanted anything more in my entire life." I replied, and with that, I climbed on top of him with my legs on either side of his lap so that I was facing him in a straddle. He smiled at my audacity and returned his hungry lips to mine with a renewed vigor. I could feel his hard cock pressing against me through the thin fabric of the pajama shorts I had on. A strange wetness seeped onto my panties as I instinctively ground my hips into his. He moaned loudly against my mouth. For once, I was grateful for the noise of the rattling train. It would prevent anyone else from hearing us.

Almost unthinkingly, I pulled the t-shirt I was wearing up over my head and flung it aside, exposing my breasts to the cold air. They weren't very large, but they were full and Peeta lavished them like they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Gingerly taking one of them into the warmth of his mouth, he stroked the other one with his thumb and then switched. I, too, let out a low moan and threw my head back in pleasure. "You're so beautiful, Katniss." Peeta murmured against my skin.

"Shut up." I said, but without any effort, and pressed my lips back against his, before proceeding to explore his mouth with my tongue. The next second, Peeta flipped me so that I was lying on my back on the bed. He peppered my body with light kisses all the way down to the waistband of my shorts. There, he paused briefly and then pulled both my shorts and my underwear off at the same time. The shock of cold down there made me gasp, but it felt so good I didn't care a bit. Drawing from some unknown experience, he licked his fingertips and traced them slowly over my clitoris in a circular motion. My eyes rolled back and I moaned again, deep and throaty. When he was sure I'd been thoroughly pleasured, he started to pull his boxers down. I sat up eagerly to help.

Casting what I hoped was a sultry expression up at him, I slowly slid them down his lean legs. A sigh of relief escaped his lips and his eyes pinched shut as his erection was freed of the compression. I had absolutely nothing to compare it to, but it looked pretty decently sized to me. It was swollen and rigid, sticking up towards his belly. Tentatively, I followed his example and spat delicately into my palm. My eyes on his, I took his warm cock in my hand and squeezed it slightly. He groaned and bucked his hips forward a little, practically begging for more. I fought back a smirk and wrapped my entire hand around the base and began to stroke up and down.

I glanced up a few seconds later and could see the tiny bit of discomfort on his face, but I knew Peeta was too polite to say anything. I loosened my grip. "Show me how you like it." I told him. He nodded gratefully and wrapped his hand around mine.

"Like this." He demonstrated the grip and the pace of the movement. When he let go, I concentrated on doing it right. The next time I looked up, he had his head thrown back and he had to grab onto my shoulders for support. "Yeah, just like that." He panted hotly. I got such satisfaction out of knowing what I could do to him. How good I was making him feel. I shivered just a little at the thought. Before much longer, though, he used his hands on my shoulders to push me gently back to lay down on the bed. Then he climbed on top of me.

I could tell he was nervous. "You're amazing." I reassured him, stroking his hair. He smiled proudly down at me.

"I promise to be gentle." He whispered in my ear. "Let me know if it hurts, even just a little bit, and we can stop."

"I trust you." Peeta licked his palm once more and ran it up and down his length. Then he slowly guided just the tip into my entrance. I sighed and tried to breathe evenly as he pushed farther in. It _did _hurt a little, but I didn't want him to stop so I bit my tongue. Peeta grunted softly, and I felt his entire cock filling me. It felt like I was in another universe. After taking a deep breath and allowing me to adjust, he started to very slowly pull out and push back in. A couple thrusts later, he hit some sort of barrier inside me and broke it. The pain was excruciating and tears pricked in the corners of my eyes. Peeta paused.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to stop?" He asked with concern. I shook my head but pulled him closer down to me. "Okay, we'll just take it nice and slow." He said softly, stroking my friction became more pleasant with each thrust until I was actually begging him to go faster, bucking my hips up and moaning like crazy. Peeta was right there with me.

Our sweaty bodies tangled together as he pumped into me. Every now and then he would lean down and kiss me passionately. After a while, Peeta maneuvered into a kneeling position, and held my legs up and a bit open to give me a new, better angle. I writhed in ecstasy. He altered his thrusts from time to time, going fast for a minute and then grinding slowly a couple of times. I was starting to feel a clenching sensation in my lower abdomen. A heat spreading throughout my body. My toes were getting tingly and I had a head rush like none other. Peeta looked to be feeling about the same. He placed my legs gently back down and returned to leaning over me, his face very close to mine and his breath hot on my cheek.

His thrusts were getting faster and I was being quickly consumed by the building heat inside me. I kissed his chest and his neck, eliciting fresh moans. In that moment, we were the only two people who existed in Panem. He slid a hand down my body and found my clitoris again, massaging it lightly. It didn't take much to send me over the edge from there. I felt it growing, and then it couldn't be stopped. My eyes shut automatically and I arched back into the mattress and dug my fingernails into Peeta's muscular back. It was the most complete pleasure I had ever experienced and by the time I was coming back down from the high, I was practically shaking. Peeta had watched the entire thing with amazement. "Oh yeah..." He muttered sensually. "Yeah...I'm almost there, sweetheart. Yeah, oh-oh..."

I felt him come inside me, shuddering rhythmically and grunting in a way too sexy to possibly describe. The moment was so special and personal that I tucked it away deep in my heart. That a man could care about me so deeply that he'd make real, authentic, genuine love to me was astounding. I wanted to cherish is forever. Slowly, Peeta pulled out of me and then collapsed next to me, sweaty and exhausted. "Oh my god..." He said incoherently to the ceiling. I giggled and cozied up next to his warm body. "I love you, Katniss Everdeen." He said bluntly, eyes still on the ceiling.

"I think I just might love you, too, Peeta Mellark." I smirked. "Just one question though." He cocked an eyebrow to show he was listening. "How did you just know what to do? I mean, I had no idea what I was doing, but you just seemed to have this game plan from the very start." A cocky grin spread across his face.

"Hey," he said smoothly, "not all my dreams are bad ones."


End file.
